Jason Matlo’s black Daria mini is a drop-dead-glam noisemaker, to the point where adding jewellery to the mix starts to become a case of overkill.

You don’t have to look like a Christmas tree or a refugee from Dynasty or a holiday ho. Yes, party season—ack—is back, but figuring out what to wear shouldn’t make you want to put on your jammies and hide at home watching Poland’s Next Top Model. Three Vancouver fashion designers who happen to be party-wear pros swear it’s easy to look holiday hot. And it’s way more fun than fetal-curling and crying, honest.

Jason Matlo feels your fear and knows exactly what you should do anyway. “Special occasions are a no-brainer,” the designer says, one recent afternoon at his Beatty Street studio. “It usually means a dress, so you’re dressed head to toe in one look, so you don’t have to think about it. Get a great-fitting dress and away you go.”

Admittedly, the man who has dressed everyone from Gabrielle Miller of Corner Gas to All My Children’s Susan Lucci to R&B singer Mýa has had some practice.

For his spring 2010 collection (available at Lola Home & Apparel [1076 Hamilton Street]), which is brimming with sexy, party-ready dresses, Matlo was thinking leggy. “Usually we have cleavage pouring forth,” he says, “but this time we cut really short because I wanted it to be more about the legs.”

His ultrafeminine black sateen Audrey dress ($575), he feels, is the ideal office party/event dress. “It’s the perfect Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s holiday dress,” he says. “Because even if you’re more conservative you can make this flashy with really great hosiery with the right heels.”

Many of Matlo’s dresses rock an edgy, seductive glam that’s decidedly for parties where the boss isn’t around. His single-shouldered body-skimming Julie mini ($450) and sisters Sara ($680) and Hilary ($600), all in black mesh on nude jersey, exude a confident supermodel vibe. “And I always choose skyscraper heels,” he says. Nevertheless, Matlo recommends “fewer accessories, less makeup, hair that’s down—an easy glamour. And I like sheer black hosiery for evening. To me, hosiery makes things look European.”

Mara Gottler’s Vintage Crepe Kimono Dress looks great on its own, but just as cool with jeans, a T-shirt, and high boots.

If nothing says party—especially New Year’s Eve party—like sparkle, Matlo’s va-va-voom sequin-dripping floor-grazing silver Ariel dress ($3,500) and black Daria mini ($600) are drop-dead-glam noisemakers. Wearing jewellery with these babies would be overkill. “It would be like adding a lot of tinsel to a Christmas tree,” he says, laughing. “Like, wasn’t it good with just the white lights and a few ornaments?”

At Mara Gottler’s Main Street studio, the holidays are looking broody and sensual, womanly, and often wenchy. “I’m all into the female silhouette,” the designer says. “That’s what I’m all about.”

Sometimes there’s nothing more daringly feminine, for the right event, than a trench coat—with nothing but a bra, panties, and stockings. The pleated, yoked, and belted Evening Trenchcoat ($850, at www.maragottler.com/) in black duchesse satin is a vision no office party could handle. “This looks great with just boots,” Gottler says, laughing.

The designer, who dresses everyone from opera singers to actors and costumes the casts of Bard on the Beach, has other office-party ideas. “Black pencil skirts are most women’s friends,” she says. Her wool version of the “killer skirt” ($250) works exquisitely with a charmeuse silk blouse with fishbone panelling ($330) in lavender, black, or ivory. Fishnet stockings turn everything naughtier.